Vice President Mike Pence will visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp site on Friday, and tour a memorial to Jews killed at the former Nazi extermination camp in Poland, the White House said Monday.
Pence will tour the site in southern Poland, with Polish President Andrzej Duda, the vice president’s office said. It will be Pence’s first visit to the infamous prison camp operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. Portions of the camp where an estimated 1.1 million people died are preserved as a museum and memorial.
Pence will be in Poland this week for a joint U.S.-Poland conference on Middle East peace and security. He also will hold defense meetings in Poland as the Pentagon considers a potential permanent base for U.S. forces in the county.
Pence, a conservative Christ...

1) Moshe’s Missing Name
There’s a very famous vort from the Gra about why Moshe is missing from the entire Parshas Tetzaveh. Moshe’s name is found in every other parsha from the time he’s born in Shemos until the end of the Torah. Why in Tetzaveh is the one place that he’s not found at all?
Moshe’s Death
Many mefarshim explain varied ideas. Vilna Gaon’s famous answer is that on zayin Adar which is the yartzeit and also the birthday of Moshe, usually falls out on the parsha of Tetzaveh. Thus, his absence is hinting to Moshe’s death at this time period.
2) 101 Verses
Vilna Gaon says another p’shat here. There are 101 pesukim in Parshas Tetzaveh. The siman at the end of the parsha is Michael, which is the same gematria as a 101. Gra s...

After newly discovered inconsistencies in votes cast during Israel’s ruling Likud party primaries aroused suspicions of fraud, Prime Minister and party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a recount of votes at all polling stations.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Sunday night that the number of votes counted for some candidates does not line up with how many voters are eligible to vote Likud in specific localities.
According to the report, Culture Minister Miri Regev – who was announced as the winner of Likud’s fifth seat in the party’s future leadership – received a total of 436 votes in Bnei Brak, where are are only 334 eligible voters.Similarly, Science Minister Ofir Akunis received 229 votes in Mitzpe Jericho, despite there being only 153 Likud vot...

By the end of last week, the congressional negotiators tasked with averting another painful government shutdown seemed on their way to reaching an agreement, and President Donald Trump seemed likely, even if begrudgingly, to sign whatever they offered.
But talks hit a roadblock over the weekend. Democrats agreed to allow that some money, though not the full amount Trump wanted, could go toward physical barriers at the southern border, but in exchange, they wanted caps on how many immigrants could be detained at the border.
This latest breakdown comes with just days until funding runs out again for about 25 percent of the federal government if Congress does nothing. No matter what happens, Trump has already strongly suggested that he will declare some kind of national emergency and move m...

Donald Trump’s job approval rating among likely U.S. voters hit 52 percent on Monday in a daily tracking poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports, the polling organization he uses most frequently to promote himself.
That number is his highest since March 6, 2017, less than seven weeks after he took office. It has been even longer since Trump’s ‘strongly approve’ and ‘strongly disapprove’ numbers weren’t under water. They were even at 39 per cent on Monday.
Monday’s numbers came from surveys conducted during the three weekdays following the president’s State of the Union address.
Read more at The Daily Mail.

Washington - Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar “unequivocally” apologized on Monday for tweets about the influence in Congress of an American organization that supports Israel, which drew bipartisan criticism and a rebuke from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The Minnesota Democrat said she had no intention offending anyone, including Jewish Americans, by suggesting that members of Congress are paid by Israel’s powerful allies to support the Jewish state.
“We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me about my identity,” Omar tweeted. “This is why I unequivocally apologize.”
In a pair of tweets over the weekend, Omar criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Commi...

Jerusalem - A new CCTV video was released shows IDF forces searching a mosque near Ramallah, located close to place where they arrested Arafat Irfaiya. Irafaiya brutally murdered Ori Ansbacher, 19, in Jerusalem’s Ein Yael forest on Thursday.
The video was released by Palestinian media and carried by Channel 12.
On Sunday night Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said the attack was nationalistically motivated and that Irfaiya had confessed and reconstructed the murder in the woods at Ein Yael on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
The Shin Bet said that he “left his home in Hebron with a knife and made his way to the village of Beit Jala,” just south of Jerusalem and from there, he “walked to the forest, where he saw Ori, attacked and murdered her.”
Ansbacher ...

Albany, NY - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will travel to Washington, D.C., this week for a meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss how recent federal tax changes are hurting the state’s bottom line.
The Democratic governor told reporters on Monday that he’ll urge the president to reconsider a provision in the recent tax overhaul that sharply limits a federal deduction for state and local taxes. Cuomo has blamed that change for a recent dip in state tax receipts, saying it has put New York at a disadvantage when it comes to attracting and retaining wealthy residents.
State officials announced last week that income tax receipts have dipped more than $2 billion below projections for the fiscal year ending next month.
“This is not an academic discussion, my friends. T...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Politically freighted border security negotiations are teetering just days before a potential new government shutdown. The turmoil is testing the changed balance of power in Washington, with lawmakers engaged in a sparring match over immigration policy that is challenging their ability to reach any accord.
Republicans say Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities are a deal breaker — eclipsing the border wall issue for now — and represent overreach by top Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
The two sides also remained separated over how much to spend on President Donald Trump’s promised border wall. A Friday midnight deadline is looming to prevent a second partial government shutdown.
Lawmakers ...

New York - Toys R Us fans in the U.S. should see the iconic brand re-emerge in some form by this holiday season.
Richard Barry, a former Toys R Us executive and now CEO of the new company called Tru Kids Brands, told The Associated Press he and his team are still working on the details, but they’re exploring various options including freestanding stores and shops within existing stores. He says that e-commerce will play a key role.
Toys R Us, buckling under competition from Amazon and several billions of dollars of debt, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in September 2017 and then liquidated its businesses last year in the U.S. as well as several other regions including the United Kingdom.
In October, a group of investors won an auction for Toys R Us assets, believing they would...

A top Saudi official who was fired after being accused of playing a role in the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi continues to serve as an informal royal adviser, and the U.S. is pressing the kingdom behind the scenes to hold him accountable, according to American and Saudi officials.
Saudi Arabia, however, has resisted American pressure to take decisive action against Saud al-Qahtani, who previously served in effect as the right-hand man to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the U.S. and Saudi officials said.
Read the Article ›

NEW YORK (AP) — Cigarette smoking rates have stopped falling among U.S. kids, and health officials believe youth vaping is responsible.
For decades, the percentage of high school and middle school students who smoked cigarettes had been declining fairly steadily. For the past three years, it has flattened, according to new numbers released Monday.
There may be several reasons, but a recent boom in vaping is the most likely explanation, said Brian King of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We were making progress, and now you have the introduction of a product that is heavily popular among youth that has completely erased that progress,” King said.
The CDC findings come from a national survey conducted last spring of more than 20,000 middle and high schoo...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden will headline his first public event in about three weeks on Saturday— in Munich, Germany, nearly 5,000 miles from Iowa, site of the presidential campaign’s first contest.
As he weighs whether to jump into the race, Biden has been conspicuously absent from early voting states, making him an outlier among Democrats eying the White House. Nine Democrats have announced full-fledged campaigns, two have launched exploratory committees, and several others are blanketing Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as they decide whether to launch a campaign. A half-dozen made the rounds this past weekend alone.
In a wide-open race, Biden’s take-it-slow approach has given other candidates a head-start in fundraising, sc...

Jerusalem, Israel - Feb. 11, 2018 - President Reuven Rivlin, Monday morning, February 11 / 6 Adar I, opened the BeSheva Group’s 16th Jerusalem Conference, entitled ‘Judaism, State, Economy, Modernity’. The conference deals with the range of issues on the public agenda in Israel. During the conference, and in the presence of the president, the Jerusalem Prize was awarded to the Director-General of Shaare Zedek Hospital, Prof. Jonathan Halevy and to veteran Israeli actor Chaim Topol. The president was introduced by the chair of the BeSheva Dudu Saada.
The president began his remarks by commenting on the terrorist attack in which Ori Ansbacher ז"ל was killed, saying “I send my condolences to the Ansbacher family an...

Richmond, VA - Some black clergy and community leaders say they forgive Gov. Ralph Northam for wearing blackface three decades ago and want to give him a second chance.
Eight leaders held a news conference on the steps of the state Capitol on Monday. Northam has resisted widespread calls for his resignation after a racist photograph from his 1984 medical school yearbook surfaced on Feb. 1.
Former Richmond City Councilman Henry “Chuck” Richardson says Northam is a “good and decent man” who has stood with African-Americans in the past.
For example, Richardson cited Northam’s call to remove Confederate statues from Richmond’s Monument Avenue.
Bernice Travers is president of a group that works to empower African-American voters. She says she’s aske...

Question #1: Four Purims!
Could someone observe Purim four times in one year?
Question #2: Which Bar Mitzvah Day?
“My son, whose thirteenth birthday was on the fourteenth of Adar Rishon, wants to know why his bar mitzvah day was not Purim.”
Question #3: Mistaken Parshah
If a community mistakenly read one of the four parshi’os in Adar Rishon, must they read it again in Adar Sheini?
Introduction:
The Mishnah (Megillah 29a) teaches: “Rosh Chodesh Adar that falls on Shabbos, we read (for its maftir) Parshas Shekalim. If it falls during the week, we read this maftir the Shabbos before. We skip the next Shabbos (meaning that we do not read a special maftir). The second Shabbos after Shekalim, we read Parshas Zachor; the third, Parshas Parah Adumah; the fourth, Hach...

Damascus - Syrian state media is reporting that Israel has bombarded the southern province of Quneitra, causing material damage but no casualties.
SANA news agency says Israeli troops fired several shells on Quneitra’s abandoned hospital and a nearby observation post.
Last month, the Israeli military confirmed attacking Iranian military targets in Syria, hours after carrying out a rare daylight air raid near the Damascus International Airport.
The Israeli air force has targeted Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria in recent months while warning that it won’t tolerate their permanent military presence in the country. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel in late January over its continued attacks in Syria, saying a miscalculation could drag the region into war.

DENVER (CBS4)– A bang to the head changed a Colorado man’s life by revealing a hidden talent. Doctors say concert performer Derek Amato is one of the few people in the world to have experienced the rare phenomena called Acquired Savant Syndrome.
He says the music is in his mind. He sees it in his head, and his fingers do the rest. Amato has a gift that came about in an unexpected way.
Twelve years ago he had an accident in the swimming pool.
“I miscalculated diving in the shallow end and hit the bottom of the shallow end on this side of my head and damaged the back end,” said Amato.
After recovering from the accident, he was at a friend’s house and walked over to the keyboard and suddenly, without ever playing the piano before, he began playing and p...